Microsoft SQL Server 2008 SP2 Release Notes

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 SP2 Release Notes

.These release notes are carefully and closely monitored. Any changes you make will be evaluated and then quickly accepted, refined, or reverted. Because this
is a wiki, additions or refinements to these release notes might have been made by community members. To read the original and official release notes document,
click here.

This Release Notes document describes known issues that you should read about before you install or troubleshoot SQL Server 2008 SP2 (download it here).
This document also provides search tips to help you find more known issues in Knowledge Base (KB) articles on the
Microsoft Help and Support Web site. This Release Notes document and the KB articles supplement SQL Server 2008 Books Online.

This Release Notes document applies to the following products:

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Standard

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Standard Edition for Small Business

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Developer

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Enterprise

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Express

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Express with Advanced Services

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Web

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Workgroup

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services

This Release Notes document is available only online, not on the installation media, and it is updated periodically.

For information about how to get started with installing SQL Server 2008, see the SQL Server 2008 Readme. The Readme is available on the installation media and from the
Readme download page.

Contents

1.0 What's New in Service Pack 2

The following features are new in Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 2 (SP2).

SQL Server Utility. After you apply SP2, an instance of the SQL Server 2008 Database Engine can be enrolled with a utility control point as a managed instance of SQL Server. For more information,
see Overview of SQL Server Utility in SQL Server 2008 R2 Books Online.

Data-tier Application (DAC) Support. After you apply SP2, instances of the SQL Server 2008 Database Engine support all DAC operations. You can deploy, upgrade, register, extract, and delete DACs.
SP2 does not upgrade the SQL Server 2008 client tools to support DACs. You must use the SQL Server 2008 R2 client tools, such as SQL Server Management Studio, to perform DAC operations. A data-tier application is an entity that contains all of the database
objects and instance objects used by an application. A DAC provides a single unit for authoring, deploying, and managing the data-tier objects. For more information, see
Designing and Implementing Data-tier Applications in SQL Server 2008 R2 Books Online.

15K Partitioning Improvement. SP2 introduces support for a maximum of 15,000 partitions in tables and indexes in the Enterprise, Developer, and Evaluation Editions of Microsoft SQL Server 2008 SP2. For details on how this support can be
enabled and disabled, along with recommended operation parameters, see the white paper Support for 15000 Partitions (it opens in a Word document)..

SQLEXPR32_x86 (can be installed on both 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems): 110 MB

SQLEXPR_x86 (can be installed on 32-bit operating systems): 96 MB

SQLEXPR_x64: 123 MB

All Other Editions of SQL Server:

X86: 300 MB

X64: 367 MB

IA64: 359 MB

2.2 SQL Server 2008 R2 Features are displayed in the SQL Server Setup Wizard when You Run the
SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 2 Update

You might see SQL Server 2008 R2 features included in the list of features to be updated by the SQL Server 2008 service pack on the
Select Feature or Ready to Update page. SQL Server 2008 R2 components are not affected by the SQL Server 2008 service pack update. No action is required.

You might see SQL Server 2008 R2 components in the list of features on the
Select Feature or Ready to Uninstall page when removing a SQL Server 2008 service pack update. SQL Server 2008 R2 features are not uninstalled during this process. No action is required.

2.3 All Features of an Instance of SQL Server Must Be at the Same Version Level Before Applying a Cumulative
Update

If you apply a SQL Server cumulative update to an instance of SQL Server where the features are not all at the same version level, the update will fail. To avoid this failure, you must ensure that all the features in an instance of SQL Server are at the
same version of SQL Server.

3.0 Release Notes for the Original Release

Before you install SQL Server 2008, read the following required actions and KB articles.

3.1 Required Actions

If you have installed Visual Studio 2008 or have installed prerelease versions of SQL Server 2008, you might have to perform prerequisite actions before you install SQL Server 2008. To determine which actions that you might have to perform, use the following
table.

Visual Studio 2008 installation status

SQL Server 2008 installation status

Required action before you install SQL Server 2008

Is not installed.

Prerelease version was never installed.

No action is required.

Is not installed.

Prerelease version is currently or was previously installed.

Follow these steps:

Uninstall the prerelease version of SQL Server 2008.

Additionally, you might have to uninstall Visual Studio 2008 features that were added by a prerelease installation of SQL Server 2008. In Windows, use Add or Remove Programs and uninstall the following features if they are installed: Visual Studio 2008 Shell
(integrated mode) and Visual Studio Tools for Applications 2.0.

Is installed, and the release version of Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1 (SP1) is not installed.

Do not install the following components of SQL Server 2008 that require Visual Studio 2008: Management Tools (both Basic or Complete), Integration Services, and Business Intelligence Development Studio features. If you want to later install any of these
features, you must first install
Visual Studio 2008 SP1.

Is installed, and the release version of Visual Studio 2008 SP1 is not installed.

Do not install the following components of SQL Server 2008 that require Visual Studio 2008: Management Tools (both Basic or Complete), Integration Services, and Business Intelligence Development Studio features. If you want to later install any of these
features, you must first install
Visual Studio SP1.

Visual Studio 2008 SP1 release version is installed.

Prerelease version was never installed.

No action is required.

Visual Studio 2008 SP1 release version is installed.

Prerelease version is currently installed.

Uninstall the prerelease version of SQL Server 2008.

If you install Visual Studio 2008 after you have installed SQL Server 2008, you must install
Visual Studio 2008 SP1 to have a supported configuration. Visual Studio 2008 SP1 is not required if you did not install the following features that require Visual Studio 2008: Management Tools (both
Basic or Complete), Integration Services, and Business Intelligence Development Studio.

3.2 Knowledge Base Articles to Read First

The following Knowledge Base (KB) articles highlight known issues that are important to read before you install SQL Server 2008. To find more KB articles about installation, use this
Before You Install query.

3.3 Error and Usage Reporting Help Button Does Not Respond

4.0 How to Find More Known Issues

We recommend that you view more known issues by searching for "SQL Server 2008" on the
Microsoft Support Web site. To find KB articles on specific topics, click any of the following suggested searches, or create your own custom search strings.